Friday, October 19, 2012

Are NHL Players Playing Games?

It seems as if NHL players are playing games with everyone and it's not the game we all want to see. Yesterday, Donald Fehr, Executive Director of the NHLPA, met with the a press, looked into the cameras and said that the NHLPA offered the NHL a 50/50 deal. The media’s first response to that was complete shock that the NHL was so angry. They were wondering why they were so miffed.

Shortly after Donald held met with the press, the NHL released a statement detailing that they had run Donald’s proposed numbers and that the NHLPA had reworked HRR (Hockey Related Revenues). The windfall to the players would be 650 million dollars according to the NHL. That apparently would yield the NHLPA 56 to 57% of the HRR, not the 50% Fehr was claiming.

When confronted by the media with this information, Fehr responded that he was unaware of that, because he never ran the numbers. Is he being serious? If he is, he’’s an idiot. How do you take three counter proposals to the NHL without knowing the numbers and how that would translate to the HRR split?

I believe that Fehr and the players were trying to be sneaky. They knew that the NHL had a good PR campaign going this week. I believe that they wanted to get the fans on their side by telling them they had really offered the NHL a 50/50 deal.

Fehr’s comments during his conference didn’t add up. The night before, he was criticizing the 50/50 deal offered by the NHL. According to the Winnipeg Free Press, Chicago hockey star, Jonathan Toews, made comments suggesting that it was the players time to get a good deal and that it was the NHL’s time to compromise. This shows me that the players have no intention in negotiating a fair deal. They don’t seem to have any intention on compromising.

The players can’t be taken seriously. Fehr and Toews moves were bad for PR. I’m annoyed at the players. I believe that it’s the players who want a big part of the season cancelled. I think that they believe that the owners will cave if the season or a big part of it is cancelled. The players got part of their wish. Today the NHL cancelled all games through November 1st.

The players are the ones gambling now. Fans are going to blame the players now. They're the ones preventing the fans from watching NHL hockey. The owners have the ability to stay the course for the long haul. I don’t believe that the players do. As the players start feeling the pinch due to losing big chunks of their annual pay, they might cave.

When the players finally do realize that they have to sign a deal or continue feeling the pinch, they will realize that the offer that will be presented to them is far worse than the one that was offered this week. The players are taking an ignorant stand. They hate Gary Bettman so much that they are willing to mortgage their revenues.

I don’t see the players winning this thing. I never have but at least the NHL presented a proposal that would be fair and that seemd to be palatable. The players want the whole enchilada. They need to realize that they’re lucky if they only get half of it. They’re not going to get close 57% of it. Dummies, take the 50/50 offer. You’re morons if you don’t.